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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO GEORGE CRUIKSHANK, ESQ., ON SEEING HIS PICTURE ... by MATTHEW ARNOLD

Poet Analysis

First Line: ARTIST, WHOSE HAND WITH HORROR WING'D, HATH TORN
Last Line: KNOW THOU THE WORST. SO MUCH, NOT MORE, HE CAN.'
Subject(s): ABSTINENCE; CARICATURE & CARICATURISTS; CRUIKSHANK, GEORGE (1792-1878);
ON SEEING FOR THE FIRST TIME HIS PICTURE OF 'THE BOTTLE',
IN THE COUNTRY

ARTIST, whose hand, with horror wing'd, hath torn
From the rank life of towns this leaf: and flung
The prodigy of full-blown crime among
Valleys and men to middle fortune born,
Not innocent, indeed, yet not forlorn:
Say, what shall calm us, when such guests intrude,
Like comets on the heavenly solitude?
Shall breathless glades, cheer'd by shy Dian's horn,
Cold-bubbling springs, or caves? Not so! The Soul
Breasts her own griefs: and, urg'd too fiercely, says:
'Why tremble? True, the nobleness of man
May be by man effac'd: man can control
To pain, to death, the bent of his own days.
Know thou the worst. So much, not more, he can.'



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